The invention relates to a method and apparatus for affixing labels and/or foils to bottles wherein precut labels and/or foils are picked up at a station, glue-coated on one side as they are being picked up, turned over, and pressed onto the bottles by their glue-coated side. Foil here means any kind of wrap applied to a bottle neck, in other words, not only a wrap which covers the bottle neck and crown cap but also a wrap which covers only the bottle neck and possibly also the rim of the crown cap.
Prior-art labeling and foiling methods can be divided into two groups so far as the transfer of the cut-to-size labels and foils is concerned. In the first of these groups, precut labels and foils are adhered to the bottle simultaneously or successively. An example of such a labeling and foiling apparatus is known from German patent No. 10 14 922. In this the bottles and, as the bottles move on, wrapped around them, pressed onto them, and smoothed.
The second group of labeling and foiling machines is characterized in that foil is pulled and cut discontinuously from a roll, the pieces of foil so cut off being glue-coated and transferred to a gripper cylinder which then presses them onto the circumference of the bottle. Examples of such labeling and foiling machines are known from German patent No. 21 60 212, French patent No. 72 39 096, and German patent applications DOS Nos. 17 86 043 and 15 86 388. The foil is either glue-coated before it is cut off, as in German patent No. 21 60 212, or then the glue is applied after or during the transfer of the cutoff foil to the gripper cylinder, as in German patent application DOS No. 15 86 388 or in French patent No. 72 39 096 and German patent application DOS No. 17 86 043, respectively. With both groups of labeling and foiling machines, the cut-to-size foils can be adhered to the bottle neck also in a diamond fashion.
The second group of labeling and foiling machines offers the advantage over the first group that foiling is cheaper since foil in rolls costs only about half as much as precut foils. On the other hand, a drawback of the second group of labeling and foiling machines is the relative complexity of the apparatus required for taking off, transferring and glue-coating the cut-to-size foils. Separate stations are provided for transferring them to the gripper cylinder and for coating them with glue.